[prem_ravi]

Friends,

Please stay away from spamming please...

[implex]

Date: 8th march
Cat percentile : 99.97
There were 8 students in the list but two were absent.

Essay and GD:
We were given a topic to write an essay for 20 minutes and then 15 minutes more to discuss the same topic. The topic was " Beginning of a journey does n't guarantee success"

I started my essay with " Well begun is half done" but what about the other half? Later followed on with examples of hare and tortoise, edison, football cricket and all other. Added valuable points how we can turn a good or a bad start into success. Overall a very simple topic and I wrote a decent essay will give 8-9/10

GD was chilled out, I chipped in with valuable points like continuous evaluation is required . Redefining of goals , review of achievements etc, Gave examples again of edison, football..
Only 6 people were there, all chilled out. I think we were finished in 12 mins and profs felt that we have nothing more to discuss and said that is fine.

Interview:
P1: Prof to my left, Prof. Sanjeev Kapoor
P2: Prof to my right, Prof Krishna Kumar ( Not sure though)
M: me!

P1 came and called me in..
Pleasantries and P2 asked me to sir. Thank you etc.

P2: xxx, You have done elec engg from IIT Kanpur. You have done very well till +2, what happened there?
M: give my reasons.
Some discussion follows, both look convinced.

P2: Ok , tell me the recent developments in elec engg.
M: I speak about smaller and smaller chips, new semi conductors etc.

P2: But that is all electronics? tell me about electrical.
M: Sir, I am more focussed towards electrnoics and communication, at IIT, we are taught all three and have to pick one or two for specialisation. Still in electrical, the nuclear deal can be said the latest development when concerning India. India is going to upgrade from 4000 MW to 20000 MW of nuclear power by 2020.

P2: Ok, have you heard about clean gas tecnology in power?
M: No sir!

P2: Ok fine. What do you read apart from electrical engineering?
M: Sir, I am a follower of football and read anything and everything about it. I am also into blogging.

P2: good, football ok!
P2: Who is the current world champion?
M: Sir, Italy won the last world cup in 2006 and spain is currently ranked 1 in FIFA rankings.

P2: When is the next worldcup.
M: 2010 in south africa.

P2: which is the most important position in football?
M: Sir, people think it is the central forward, but I believe it is the goalkeeper. I think his mistake can be very costly. One mistake of the goalkeeper can cost us a match. Attackers get numerous chances to score goals. But, once a goalkeeper lets an easy one in, the whole team omes under pressure. He is the most important player on the pitch.

P2: do u know pele? What was special about him?
M: Sir, he is regarded as the best footballer ever. He had this amazing knack of cutting through defenders, but he was a team player, his goals were full of passes. One of his goals is very famous when from midfield he took teh ball and the goal was scored after 13 passes.

P2: Good!
P2: Do you play football?
M: yes sir, but had to quit.

P2: Oh, because of the operation?
M: Yeah sir!
P2: Ok

P2: what else do you read?
M: Sir, I am not that big a reader. But the last two books that I read are, Atlas Shrugged and Kite Runner.

P2: And? ( he didn't hear kite runner properly)
M: Kite runner sir!

P2: who is teh author of atlas shrugged?
M: Ayn Rand

P2: What is so special about this book?
M: Sir, the imagination is very vivid. One can find any all kinds of emotions in this book. She has seen the world of today so early. Her imagination of reservations and fight between capitalism and socialism is very much what is happening and has happened.

P2: The book is very thick and has very small print( says to p1 and me). How much time it took you?
M: about one and a half month.

P2: good! Have you heard of the book alchemist?
M: yeah Sir, I have heard the name of the book, not read it.

P2: Do you know the name of author?
M: No sir!

P2: Thats fine.
P2: Suppose in your job it is necessary to bribe the customer to get business. What would you do?
M: Sir, I am not in favour of bribes. One should try other means.

P2: Suppose there is no other way. And your company, although does n;t encourage bribes but sees no wrong in it either and has funds allocated for it?
M: Sir, in that case, I will have no option. If the company can get no business, we are losing everything.
P2: Ok

P1 takes over
P1: Yeah, bribing is called facilitation fee. There is nothing wrong in it?
M: Sir, well it is not ethical but when you have no other options, you have to go for it.

P1: Right!
P1: Can you tell me the probability of you getting into IIM L?
M: do you want a mathematical answer, or you want me to take a prediction?

P1: Give a mathematical answer.
M: Sir, for that I would need some stats and also .

P1: What do you need?
M: No of seats and no of calls given .

P1: assume 500 calls and 100 seats.
M: Sir, we would need to assume that there will be no absentees in the interviews and everyone who gets an admit joins.

P1: Ok, then.
M: then probability of my selection is 499c99/500c100 which will be 499!100! 400!/500!99!400!=100/500=1/5

P1: suppose we have 50% reservations for girls?
M: we will need to reduce the number of girls candidates called from 500 and the calculations would change.

P1: Fine.
P1: So, you are from Bokaro Steel City, Tell me about your family?
M: Sir, My father works with Bokaro Steel Plant and my mother is a homemaker. My elder brother is a mechanical engg working in pune. My younger brother is studying mechanical engg from NIT Jamshedpur.


P1: Oh all engineers. good very good.
M: Yes sir (smiles)

P1: The guy who left before you asked me to ask you a question. Should I ask you that?
M: Sure sir!

P1: What is the size of a football field?
M: Sir, it depends what kind of a match it is. For international matches it is 70-80 yards in width and 110-130 yards in length. For domestic matches , it can be different.

P1: It is meters?
M: No sir, yards.

P1: Good, why do you think he asked me to ask you this?
M: may be because i spoke about football in the GD.

P1: Good, how does this answer tell me that you are suitable for management?
M: Sir, this answers shows I am well informed about my hobby and follow it with passion. Thus, this shows that I will do justice to my management studies and will do the same in my work thereafter.

P1: How many interviews you have had? All over?
M: No sir, this is the fourth, I have IIM C left.

P1: which calls you have?
M: A C I KL

P1: Which you don't have?
M: B and S.

P1: ahh, you have so many calls, you will convert one of them, and will get into management, very good chances.
M: yes sir, i am very confident of converting at least two.

P1: Good, that was I asking tell me your probability of getting into IIM L.
M: Sir, I would give myself 70%.

P1: Why 70 and not 100?
M: Sir, 10% weightage is for work ex. and 5% for grad score. So, I am basically competing for just 85% and I have doen reasonably well for 70%. So I said 70%.

P1: Fair enough!
Looks at P2.
P1 and P2: That will be all, Thank you.
M: Thank You sir!


All in all feel good, they never stressed me out. P2 laughed throughout the interview. P1 was also very cordial.

[joy_dreamer]

Hi,

I had my IIM Lucknow GDPI today.
Place : Kolkata - Kenilworth Hotel .

(I had IIMI & IIMB interviews in the same hotel )

Time : 2.00pm

Whatever life has in store for me for 10th April ... I was feeling very happy that today is the last interview.. Time to go for a long along Golden Quadrilateral..

PROFILE:

Acads:
X - 89 % 49th Rank in West Bengal state
XII - 85 % 96th Rank in West Bengal state
Undergrad Major - Production Engg . 2005 - Jadavpur University
83 % 1st class 3rd

Work-Ex:
3.5 Years - ERP Consulting in PwC / IBM / Cognizant

CAT %ile:
DI 95.86
Quant 86.03
Verbal 99.79
Aggregate 99.61


Any other special thing abt u:

Stock Market Trader - Qualifed four modules of NCFM - Derivatives , Securities , Capital Mrkts , Beginners' Modules.
** You will see later how this me


Painter - 3 awards from Art Exhibition in Tokyo.

GD:

30 people were called .. So many common faces .. friends , CL Boot Camp fellows , Puys, College Mates , Office Colleagues.

3 panels --> 10 member each. There was a board and we had to see which panel we were in.

Topic: " Great minds think alike , fools seldom differ "


Number of Ppl present : 10

Time: 20 mins to write a 300 words essay. 20 mins to discuss. 10 people , 20 mins was OK.

Brief Snapshot of Discussion: Abstract topic . Each one stated his / her own examples. I entered after 4/5 mins. In the beginning the sound level was high, so I waited for my turn. There are examples ranging from Kautilya to Obama, stock markets to elections ! I also gave a few examples.. I pointed out that Great minds think alike but only after exploring and evaluating all the possible options , fools seldom differ as they just are part of the herd.

Other Salient Details: Our GD was not at all structured . It was just poring in of some discrete examples. One person did not speak, the panel asked him to summarize in the end.

PI:

We were called in the order we sat in the GD. I was 9th to be called in.
Mine was Panel number 2.
Panel Members Intro: Prof. Madhusudan Karmakar - Finance (FP)
Prof. Arunabha Mukhopadhyay - Systems (SP)

Questions:

SP : So .. Production Engineering ?
Me : Yes Sir.. Jadavpur University 2005
FP : So have you manfactured anything being a Prod. Engr ?
Me : No Sir . Did not get the chance .. Actually , I work as an ERP Consultant
FP : Ok.. U have worked for PwC ?
Me : Yes.
FP : What did PwC do in the Satyam case ?
Me : There can be 2 possibilities : Either they failed to do their job or they were a party to the fraud.
FP : Satyam and Maytas - how are they related ?
Me : Told - Raju's sons .. Substituting fakes assets with real ones.
FP : Anything More ?
Me : Maytas .. Hyderabad Metro Rail project. Shareholders thought that Satyam wanted to rescue Debt ridden comapany Maytas . But it was the other way round !
FP : Cant you think simply ? Spell both -
Me : SATYAM | MAYTAS mirror !
FP : Good
SP : Why did u leave IBM ?
Me : I am a Consultant sir. In IBM the work was too technical ! I did not want to bury myself in endless lines of codes. I wanted a functional role.
FP : What kind of role ?
Me : I am a Prod .Engr - so I worked on BOM , Routing , Inventory and other Discrete Mfg. modules
FP : You have qualified 4 NCFM modules - what have to learnt ?
Me : Learnt how a stock market operates.
FP : What is Black - Scholes model ?
Me : Told
FP : How does it come ?
Me : I surrender sir. I dont know the derivation , but I know that it was derived based on the pronciples of Brownian motion.
SP : Ok .. Ok.. That would do . You will learn the rest if u come to Lucknow !
FP : If we select him, then only .
Me : (Similing ... like a fool )
FP : What else do u know ?
Me : Derivatives . (slip of tongue)
FP : Smiling ... Ok . lets start
Me. Yes Sir (my inner self)
FP : What is a Call Option ?
Me : A call option gives the buyer the right but not the obligation .....
FP : Is the right free of cost ?
Me : No sir ... Premium
FP : Premium = function () ???
Me : Underlying , interest rates , in/at / out of money , near , mid , far month ...
SP : You know everything ! What will you learn in MBA ?
Me : Sir , I know the very basics . I want to dig deeper .
SP : Ok.. Do u remember what is Entropy ? State the 3rd law of thermodynamics .
Me : Disorder . Entropy . The entropy of a living system cannot decrease with time.
SP : Ok.. You have just 2 mins ,Relate Entropy and the Stock Market. If you cant answer you are out.
Me : plz sir plz sir (my facial expression)
SP : You are not out of the selection process. I mean that this is the last question, your i/v will end.
Me : Disorders in stock markets .. VaR margin . Risk vs. Losses
SP :
FP : Ok. What is a Bull Spread ?
Me : Buy a call option and sell another . one below the current level of Nifty and the other above .
FP : Arbitrage - when do we do that ?
Me : Spot and Futures price are deviating .
FP : Short Put payoff diagram ?
Me : Drawn. It was correct.
FP : To SP ? Do u have anything to ask ? ( I was the 9th person. It was 6.15pm already !)
SP : What is PERT / CPM ?
Me : Told .
SP : Crashing ?
Me : Told.
SP : Ok. I was just checking whether you remember or not .
SP : Oracle ERP ... whats the diff b/w ABAP and Oracle PL SQL ?
Me : ABAP - SAP ; Oracle PL SQL - Oracle Apps
SP : What's the diff. b/w view and query ?
Me : Query is a statement . View - executed during runtime. Materialized views store data.
SP : To FP - So we are done ?
FP : Ok.. All the best
Me : Wished them and came out of the last IIM intervw of my life. 10th April would say whether this was the last or not ... Picture abhi baki hain mere dost ......

MISC.

3rd IIM i/v of my life. IIML had 20 GD-Essay , 20PI , 10 - quality of acads and Workex. The panel had conducted a very structured i/v. They touched upon everything - hobbies , acads , workex, current affairs..

Gyaan : Even if you have 3+ yrs workex , you will be asked acads. So plz brush up ur Grad. subjects.


Next Stop : No more stops ! I am done with all interviews.


Verdict : Converted

[mohitjha]

I had my GDPI session at Kolkata on 19th March at 2 PM
Acads:
Xth: 88.2 CBSE
XIIth : 92.0 CBSE
Engineering: 89.4

CAT:
QA: 98.xx
DI: 90.xx
VA: 94.xx
OA: 98.53

Work ex: 32 months in Indian Railways
There were 10 people in my panel 1 lady and 9 gentlemen
An essay was to be written on the topic followed by discussion on the same topic. 20 minutes were given for each.

Panel
Prof 1: Prof. Arunabha Mukhopadhyay - Systems (SP)
Prof 2: Prof. Madhusudan Karmakar - Finance (FP)


Topic of the essay and GD: Great Minds think alike but fools seldom differ.
The topic wasn’t a juicy one. So all I did was to find various connotations of the words add examples and maxims and strengthen the core issue.
GD immediately followed. The lady tried to start the proceeding but a guy cut in with his sharp voice and quicker English in typical Mahesh Bhatt style. The best points were discussed in first 5 minutes. We discussed the meaning of the topic, reasons for it, effects and finally lots of examples. Thereafter everyone started speaking after every pause and the person with loudest voice went on to speak. I can safely say that we were way out of topic, e.g. the lady mentioned news article related to artificial heart!!! a guy mentioned something about jaago grahak campaign???. And poor Galileo, even the church would not have discussed about him to the extent which we did. Thank god we did not bring satyam. Obama and terrorism. After 15th minute everyone was looking at their watches and hoping the discussion to be over.
2 guys spoke for most of the time, I am pretty sure that they themselves did not know what they were saying and they had an opinion on everything whether they understood it or not.
Finally to our relief the prof 1 said that we had only 2 minutes left and asked a guy who had not spoken during the GD to summarize.
Overall performance of the group: mediocre.

PI
I was 5th person to be called in.
Prof1 – (looking into my PGP form). So u r Mechanical Engineer. Where r u working
Me – yes sir. I am working in Indian Railways. I m posted at Siliguri
Prof1 – how did u get in IR
Me – sir I got through SCRA
Prof1- that’s really good. So u got in govt service right after class 12th. (then talking to prof2 these fellows are taught by Railways and they are treated well)
Me – (thank god. He knows about SCRA) hee hee
Prof1 – so after all that money govt spent on u, now u want to leave
Me – sir I will take study leave, do MBA and then weigh my option.
Prof 1 – so what do you exactly do
Me – sir my current job responsibilities involve maintenance and operation of locomotives, asset management, failure analysis and recently I have been given additional charge of personnel matters as well
Prof1 – so u got everything why do you want to leave
Me- I have just a BE degree. 10 yr down the line I will be evaluated by my work and degrees I hold. MBA is the best I can get.
Prof1 – so where is your office located
Me – in Siliguri.
Prof1 – where in Siliguri?? What is special about Siliguri from Railway point of view
Me – sir my office is near Jn. Siliguri is the only place in India to have all the three gauges and in functional state.
Prof1 – why do u use banking engine? Doesn’t it add to the weight.
Me – to negotiate the gradient. The engine is a power pack and provides the necessary upward force.
Prof1 – can u tell me the exact mechanism
Me – sir I donno.
Prof1 – give it a try u r Mechanical Engineer
Me – ok. Drew the FBD and resolved the forces. Showed upward and forward forces etcc
Prof1 – so the Railway turnaround. Is it for real
Me – explained in detail. Mentioned something about rate of interest
Prof2 – why is Govt lending at such low interest to Railway
Me- reasons, some intricacies
Prof2 – (he was going through my file). How many states are there in India? UT
Me – 28 states, 7 UT
Prof2 – which was the last state to be formed?
Me- actually three: Jharkhand, Uttarakahnd, Chattisgarh
Prof2 – capitals of these
Me –Ranchi, Dehradun, Raipur
Prof2- capital of Punjab/haryana
Me – chandigarh
Prof2 – which state is it located
Me – its UT. But I donno the exact location
Prof2 – how is president elected
Me – explained, electoral college, weightage of MP, MLA, requisite votes etc etc
Prof2 – current president is from which state
Me- Smt. Pratibha Patil from Maharashtra
Prof2 – which president of India is she 12th or 13th
Me – (were our forefathers ever involved in a land dispute) I am not sure sir!!!
Prof2 – these certificates are from ur college
Me- mostly from school
Prof1 – ok we r through. It was nice talking to u
Me – thank u sir. Pleasure was all mine.

A feel good interview. Prof2 might have noticed my certis of quiz and hence those questions.

[prem_ravi]

Transcript of my IIML PI :-)

March 25, 2009
Profile:
Workex: 9 Years in IT Sales
Panel 1:
Essay/GD topic: Money is a good servant but a bad master…
20 mins Essay. No rough sheets are allowed..
I explained why money was invented & wnet about explaining how money is important today. Also explained how money cannot buy things like affection, peace of mind etc etc..I also wrote how money is beyond servant as in how a person moves towards unethical things when he doesn’t have money & how money as master pushes a person to safeguard it…
GD: 20 mins
No of People: 12 L
Out of the 20 minutes, close to about 15 minutes it was an absolute fish market..More than 5 people were speaking at a time..
I came in as the 4th guy..Even that time, 2 people started along with me. I increased my volume, pierced through & ensured the other 2 stopped totally. I entered 8 times J in equal intervals & my point was the last one to end the GD.

Points I spoke:

• I spoke about how unemployement forces people to go directionless & gave the article about Mangalore Pubs as an example where the author spoke about the unemployment as the prime issue.
• I spoke about the Bernaud Madoff $60 Bn fraud.
• I spoke how money can be utilized properly like Karnataka government spends 7 Cr for health Checkups for school going kids, Madhya Pradesh government has implemented Ladli Ladki project for the upliftment of Girl Childs & also in UP how the Government has spent the money for correcting the Sex Ratio (This complete things I spoke in 1 shot, 1-2 mins everybody kept quiet J)
• When some body said about greed being the reason, I spoke about the recent Mumbai rape issue, where a father went about doing that atrocity as a tantric told him that his business will improve.
• I spoke about how excessive money pushes a person towards insecurity ie forced to safe guard his money.
• I also spoke about how animals survive .They don’t have money J (Somebody said Money is the atmost important thing for Life)
• Somebody said our culture is corrupted. I replied saying that “We respect people from poor background in this country who have come up in an ethical way. Examples: 2006, an IIMA passout who is a son of an Idli shopkeeper. 2007, a railway clerk who got 6 IIM calls”. Panelist said stop.

PI
Prof1:Prof.Saji.K.B.Nair, Chairman Admissions, Marketing Group
Prof2: Dr.Roshan Lal Raina, Communications Group
Me: Yours truly…
Prof 1 comes to call me in at 12.41 PM
Me: Good Morning Sirs.
Prof1: Its almost afternoon now (laughs)
Me too laughed..
Prof2: Prem, what were you doing from 1995-1996 (I have a break after my 12th class)
Me:Sir, In tamilnadu, we have a provision to improve our 12th standard scores, if we want to. Hence I appeared for my Phyics, Chemistry & Biology exams & improved my total by 152 marks.
Prof2: What did you do from 2000 to 2004..
Me: Sir, I was working with M/s.Rolta India Ltd..
Prof2: When did u get placed
Me: Sir, in May 2000..through Campus Placement
Prof2: Campus Placement, hmmm...
Prof1: (going through the file) Oh, you were in Sales from the begining
Me : Yes (Smile)
Prof2: But you haven’t mentioned it in the form?
Me: Sir, Iam working in the fourth Organisation, but we have space to mention only 3 jobs.
Prof1: oh, but you could have mentioned below the box.
Me: Sir, I wasn’t sure if I can do that. Also it would have looked so clumpsy.
Prof1: That’s ok (starts marking the same with pencil in the form & starts going through the certificates)
Prof2: Your scores during Engineering seems very low (With a not so happy face)
Prof1: He would have been preparing for CAT then (in a mocking tone)
Me: Sir, I didn’t prepare for CAT
Prof1: No no you would have, else why would have your scores gone down ??(Mocking with a sarcastic smile)
Me: Sir, actually I went through some problems in life.(Started with my moms hospitalization & told the actual issue).Along with studies, I had the responsibility of taking care of my family members.I was a day scholar travelling 120KMs + 120 KMs every day.
Prof 1: (stopped mocking) with an empathetic tone, “Are you the only kid?”
Me: Sir, Iam the only son & I have a younger Sister. I also had the responsibility of bringing her up.
Prof1: Whats your dad???
Me: He works as a clerk with SBI
Prof1: From where to where, were you travelling?
Me: From Thiruvallur to Vellore Sir
Prof2: Prem, you are working a good company, why do you want to do this programme??
Me: Sir, as you see , it has taken me 9 years to reach where Iam today.If I have look at my present organization itself, my next role would be to head the complete education business. Now for me to do well in this role, I need to understand the complete business dynamics & an MBA will help me do understand that well…
Prof1: Prem, hope you got the question wrong, what Prof 2 was trying to ask you was, why not a 1 year MBA, why a 2 year programme now?
Me: Sir, I actually thought about this, when I started my CAT preparations. During the process of understanding the course, I understood that a 1 year MBA is like a crash course. Focussed more towards on academics with strict dead lines. Since Iam coming back to studies after a long time, I want to start my studies from the basics and also want to balance my academic as well as college life including extracurriculars.Also as you mentioned, I couldn’t do much towards my academics during my college days. Now I really want to do academically well.
Prof 1: is this your only call???
Me: Yes Sir

[prem_ravi]

Prof2: But Prem, you know the current situation, do you think it to be wise to leave such a good job now??
Me: Sir, You are right & even I have thought about this.After understanding the current situation, Iam sure after 2 years , things wont be this bad. Iam not saying it will improve drastically, but it would be better than today. Also Iam trying to work out a sabbatical option as a back. If you just look at my latest job shift, it happened in November, even that time the market was bad. I strongly believe that opportunities, though less are available & it’s the responsibility of an individual to find that & it also depends on an individual’s capability
Prof2: You did BE, CSE. Can I ask you some questions from Networks??
Me: Sir, its 9 years since I have done my BE, I hardly remember any subjects now
(Smiles around)
Prof1: Prem, you work for Mathworks right??
Me: Yes Sir
Prof1: You report to Mr.XXXXXXX
(I was shocked because he knew my boss J)
Me: Yes Sir
Prof 1: You sell Matlab, Can I ask you questions on that???. You cannot sell a product without knowing it (Smiles)
Me: Sir, I have joined 4.5 months back only, I will try my level best (Smile)
Prof1: In Matlab, you guys say Matrices, what is that?
Me: Matrix is the representation of elements in an array , in rows & columns or in simpler words, it is the pictorial representation of Linear Equations
Prof1: What is a determinant?
Me: It’s the value of a Matrix
Prof1: (Draws a 3X3 Matrix) Find the determinant ??
Me: (started solving)
Prof1: Don’t solve, explain me how to solve it.
Me:Explained it properly J
Prof 1: Tell me Prem, does MATLAB has any limitations on the number of rows & columns of a Matrix
Me: (wasn’t sure) No Sir, we don’t have (Which turned out to be true J
Prof1: But OS will have limitations
Me: Yes Sir, but we say that our product doesn’t have limitations & that’s one of our strengths & USPs (100% correct, which I found later)
Prof1: What about Excel???
Me: (Wasn’t sure) No sir, even they don’t have (Which turned about to be wrong L)
Prof 1: Are you sure???
Me: (confidently) Yes Sir.
Prof 2: What is this “SPURTI”
Me: Sir, Inspired by what has happened to my mom, I started participating in lots of social activities. I have been a regular donor of blood from college days..Sir, hope you won’t mind if I explain you from the past
Prof2: That’s fine, go on (Prof 1 &2 were listening seriously)
Me: We as a family celebrate our birthdays in Orphanages. Having done all this, I wanted to do something more, that’s when I met a person who has some disability due to Cerebral Palsy & his only dream is to crack CAT. Seeing his determination, I got determined to help him achieve his dreams.Thats when I started this institute called SPURTI along with my Friends & its running successfully..
Both Prof 1 & Prof 2 spontaneously said, “Thank You”
I thanked them & walked out…PI lasted for 9 mins
Iam happy except but Excel goofup…Looking at the process now, I feel I couldn’t have done any better than this. Iam leaving results to the destiny.
Your comments are welcome..

[helloworld_adi]

Well the last interview of the season was an unmitigated disaster. I really dunno what the panel found in us as a group. Looked like a decent gd to me. Atleast the first 2 guys b4 me and 2 guys after me were belted. I too joined in the slugfest and got screwed. Neway here's my experience for your benefit and blore puys pray u don't get slotted to PANEL 2

Acads:
X : 83
XII 80
Undergrad Major - 73

Work-Ex: 21 months in IT

CAT %ile: 99.76

Any other special thing abt u: No use!! They flipped the file like a pack of cards


GD:
Topic: God help the rich. Poor will take care of themselves
Number of Ppl present : 10
Time: 20 min for essay and 20 min to discuss

I guess i wrote a decent essay. There was not much time for a 300 word essay and no rough sheets were provided so could not really organise it well.

Was the second guy to speak. Started off with Shakespaere's "Sweet are the uses of adversity". Said the current crisis has actually hit the poor more than the rich. Also kept entering at regular intervals with relevant points like the 1973 oil crisis and how it affected rich countries more than poor countries. Was able to command silence while i spoke. Overall i was satisfied with the performance

As a group yes there were noisy moments. A little too much discussion of god i guess. The usual suspects of slumdog millionaire, dhirubhai ambani etc were there. Thank god no obama or cricket came in

The panel lost interest after 5 min of the gd. They were talking and laughing and having a parallel gd of their own. Guess they forgot to time as well and we stretched on senseless discussion till arnd 25 min by which time i guess one of em woke up and said stop!!

PI: 2 profs p1 and p2. Yours truly the bakra tat is B:

p1 : http://www.iiml.ac.in/ajaykgarg.html
p2 : http://www.iiml.ac.in/krishnakumar.html

Questions:

p1 : so u worked in symbian?
B: yessir

p1 : and now in nokia?
B: yessir

p1 : ok. tell me about the 3g spectrum issue
B: started saying something

p1 : first what is 3g?
B: explaind the generations of mobiles, 1g,2g,2.5g . Began explainin the underlying tech

p1 (cutting short) so wat is the spectrum issue

B: again started about the issue of new players vs older players in auctions and stuff.Got a bit stuck here as was gettin confused as to what party had what stand

p1 : take your time. relax

B (fully relaxed) : explained in detail. However missed out on one imp point of giving away spectrum at throwaway prices.

p1 : ok have you heard of virgin mobile
B yessir

p1 : what is their business model?
B: explained properly

p1 : recently they had some ad about gettin paid for incoming calls. hows tat possible

B: said dunno bout the ad. maybe its a strategy to expand market share

p1 (to p2) where is he based?
p2 (looking at form ) blore

p1 : so we both are not from blore. which place you'll suggest us to go
B: sir vidhana soudha is a good place to start....

p1 : wats spl bout it?
B: one of the landmarks here. Built by Sir Viswesveraiah and stuff

p2 : who is Viswesveraiah?
B: diwan of mysore,engg wagarah...

p2 : which stream he did his engg from...civil?

B: yessir

p2 : are you sure??
B: yes cos that was the main stream at that time

p2 : sure???
B: well tats wat i think but i'm not that sure(bhai itna kahe confidence ki watt laga rahe ho)

p2 : wats jhansi famous for?? (my hometown)
B: rani jhansi....finallly somethin on my strength

p2 : whats the name of her house?
B: in jhansi we call it rani mahal

p2: not house ,,,,HORSE??
B: HORSE?? baki sab padh ke aaya tha rani ke bare mein damn it ghode ka naam nahi padha
p2: who else were with her in that war?
B: sir tantiya tope and nawab sahib...

p2 : whose nawab sahib?
B: sorry sir nana sahib

p2 : where is he from?
B: (sala sab pata tha but sab bhool gaya) sir he's a maratha.dunno

p2: take a guess
B: i guess baroda (tat darned fella was from our own lucknow). tantiya tope was from gwalior. Started detailing about the rani's last stand

p2 (cutting short) you know Standard and Poor's the rating agency

B: yessir

p2 : what is the agency in india?
B: sir CRISIL

p2: whats the full form?
B: Credit Rating and Investment services of India Ltd

p2 :Whats the foreign rating agency whose been allowed in india?
B: dunno sir. Basically i guess the Nifty index is created by S&P

p2: but just now u said crisil is the one
B: (left it there and hoped for him to leave as well) sorry sir dunno

p2 : some rating is given by crisil. he said something like PA. Whats tat?
B: no clue sir

p2 : ok u know about bse,nse
B (aaah at last something where i can answer) yessir

p2 : how many stock exchanges are there in india?
B: thought he's asking types of stock exchanges. Started telling

p2 : i'm asking a simple question. How many stock exchanges? giv a NUMBER
B: Well i know only 4 well known ones-bse,calcutta,madras and nse. There are some in places like kanpur etc

p2 : (Now comes the blockbuster part-try this) Tell me the founding members of calcutta stock exchange,its traded capital and the companies listed there

B:
Sorry sir no idea

p2 : you said you know these 4 well-known ones
B: well all i know is it was estd somewhere around 1890, used to be one of the most active exchanges till the 60s and now is very less in prominence

p1 : ok what are your hobbies
B: Sir reading esp indian fiction.Also have special interest in military history and have made indepth study on 2nd world war and napoleonic campaigns

p2 : (Another blockbuster) You've heard of the 303 bore rifle?
B: yes (don't like the territory its goin to)

p2 : tell me the specifications of it
B: (bhai ordinary mba aspirant hoon koi defence agent nahi jo spec sheet leke ghoomta hoon) sorry sir no clue.

p2 : you said military is your hobby
B: military campaigns and strategy sir not guns and rifles . All i know is that it was used in first world war and decommisioned thereafter. Its used by police now and has single loading

p2 : ok.You guys talked about slumdog millionaire. What book is it based on?
B: (finally something) Sir Q&A by Vikas Swaroop

p2 : Have you read it?
B: no sir

p2 : you should have read it reading being your hobby
B: well sir i was reading "imagining india" by nandan nilekani in the last fortnite and came to know about it recently

p2 to p1 : i'm done (possibly got tired of whipping)
p1 : so you know about ipl
B: (arre bhai bola na he's done) yessir
p1: what are the teams
B:( did i hear rite? such a sitter) there're 8 teams started naming them, cut me off at the sixth one

p1 : who owns delhi daredevils?
B: GMR group

p1 : ok i'm done too
p2 : you've less in one section i guess in cat

B: sir i got 96.4 in di
p2: yes there's a lot of logic and graphs in iiml courses. Will you be able to handle that?

B: sir its a 2 hr exam. I've cleared all the cutoffs....

p2 : yes we know tats y you're here
B: well sir we give whatever time is for each section and optimise the overall score

p2: your english is good. Thats y you've given max time in verbal
B: I try to maximise my strength. But i gave some 50 min to di. I found it tough this time

p1: ok thank you

Well here was my full and final iim experience. The mystery is that only our panel is doing like that. All other panels are having chill PIs. I was at my smiling best throughout even though i was getting roasted inside. The worst part is there's 5 marks for quality of acads and 5 marks for quality of work-ex which is supposed to be judged in interview. How will they judge it on? By the name of Rani Jhansi's Horse or the specification sheet of 303 bore rifle???

The wierdest experience ever. I would've had the blues had my season not got over today and am too happy to let anything come in its way

ATB to all puys having their interviews. Rock on!!!

Cheers,
Adi

Final Analysis and Verdict : Well this was a big reject of the season. In retrospect , perhaps as a group we were discussing too much on literal issues. The topic was "God help the rich. Poor can help themselves" There were people who were discussing about God apparently applying the "Key-word approach" given by TIME in which you parse the topic for keywords and generate points based on them. It works for socio-politico-economic topics but not for abstract ones. Hence the next time, something like this happens one should always try to bring back the discussion in the line.

Rest i believe my average acads in 10th,12th and grad did me in. Although i still havent got the answer to the question of how they allocate marks to Quality of acads and work-experience. Perhaps some things are best left in the dark

[vudsri000]

PROFILE:

Acads:
X : 78%
XII: 87.3%
Undergrad Major - 8.77/10

Work-Ex: 2.75
Sector - STB H/W Testing

CAT %ile:
DI - 87.9
Quant - 99.7
Verbal - 88.3
Aggregate


Any other special thing abt u: Nothing


GD:
Topic: Good helps only Rich, Poor can help themselves
Number of Ppl present
Time: 2.00 Pm , 25th march Bangalore

Brief Snapshot of Discussion:

Started very badly. I was in the same panel mentioned above. Many irrelevant points mentioned in GD. We lost track. Panel was not looking at us.

MISC.
Any other relevant detail. I did not write my under grad university properly.

PI:
Panel Members : Old(O) , Middle Aged(M), I(me)

O: calls me in.
M: what is VIT?
I : Vellore IT

M: How do i identify.
I: Sorry sir, I should have at least mentioned Vellore.

O: Goes out.............(pathetic GD , thought he is not interested)
M: What is the Email Committee u mentioned about.
I: me explained.

M: your 10th percent is 78% , u are from AP, PPl get 98%, BITS pilani had problems?
I: I used to be top 4-5 in class but never realized that much was possible. + my hand writing is bad. I don't usually do well in written exams.

M: Does it exist even now? in IIML unfortunately all exams are written tests. How will u do there ?
I: It still exists. I may not get very good marks but i can pass.

M: TRAI Expand and Who heads it ?
I: expanded but did not tell who heads it.

M: Pls comment TRAI is creating a lot of controversies and should be removed?
I: Told regulation should be there other wise things won't work.

M: u are giving general answer. Remember some recent controverises
I : can't remember

M: PHL is assosiated with what and held where this year
I: Hockey. I have not heard of it since 2005-06

M: What do u know Virgin Mobile
I : s sir, I don remember name but he has innovative business models.

M: Innovative , I will come later. How does it VM work.
I: They are giving money for receiving calls.

M: As an MBA aspirant u will be intrested in how it works. explain me that
I: Kind of network marketing. Giving money to customers.

M: I think VM is the one gives the maximum number of adds?
I: I think it is also with adds used to boost sales , increase business.

O: (Steps in now) There is a specif place Ratan Tata in indian Airways? What is that ?
I: are u talking about Air India? (I work in Tata company)

O: No some place more specific to him?
I: no sir(God knows.........)

O: What did JRD Tata do?
I: have no idea but little about Jamsetji Tata

O: are they both different?
I: Jamsetji Tata founder and started Tata Sons.

O: Tata Sons? What is it?
I: Tata family

O: only one family?
I : Thare is one more family Jamsetji's sister family i guess.

O: (They both laughing at Jamsetji's sister). Who is J.R.D ?
I: after 2 generations became the chairman

O: How many sons does he have?
I: don't know

O: Who is Ratan Tata?
I: Now Chairman

O: How related to J.R.D?
M: Don't know. Ratan no sons.

O&M: no J.R.D 's sons
M: donno

O: What is Tata's Amount ?
I: 97(assuming no.)

O: no revenue
I: ..........

M: Tell 10 tata comapnies
I: Started........breaks

M: u told 7 comapnies but not Tata Steel, Tata Motors (Flag Ship companies).
I: .............

O: (The most F**ing Question) Tell me revenue. After that my nxt Q is Birla's and their revenue. Then what is their differences
I: .....Then i wouldn't be able to answer.

M: Tahts it then
I: Thanks ............

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worst of Interviews and GD's ...........me gave lot of oppurtunity to others in GD.....but got screwed up completely. My only call this year .............
Ending this way is very bad......

M sorry if used any language but its seriosly bad ..........Time is running out and my life is at stake..........

[hellion]

Venue - Monarch Luxur, 10 AM

Essay/GD Topic - Money is a good servant but bad master.
No of ppl - 10.
20 mins for essay, word limit of 300. Wrote an okayish essay.
20 mins for gd. It was pehle aap situation for most parts of discussion. Somehow we were able to kill 20 mins...
After discussion we were asked to wait in the lounge. Ppl were called in order.
Moi was 6th to go in.

P - Prof
L - Lady Prof
H - Me
M - My mind

After plesantries
P - Gimme your file
H - Obliges...
L - What do you do in your free time?
H - Told
L - Hmm... Temme about F1
H - Told
L - Effect of recession on F1
H - Told
L - What is that you enjoy in Calvin and Hobbes?
H - Told
(L seems quite happy)
P - How was your performance in gd?
H - I would consider it average...
P - We thought it was pretty good... should we reconsider that? (Starts laughing) (L agrees and joins the laugh)
H - It is your choice sir.
L - Discussion was lacking in depth, a bit more reading would have helped M - what's this supposed to mean?
A little chitchat about my college and my company
P - So you work in xyz...
H - Told about my company a little..
P - Temme about product life cycle
H - Is it product or project?
P - Product..
H - Start tellin about product's stages
A brief discussion about the same...
L - Hmm.. Why MBA?
H - Told
L - Why don't you have any big dreams?
M - Mere chote chote dreams poore nahi hote.. big dreams leke kya karun?
H - (Smile sheepishly)
L - I need to know why today's youth doens't dream big. I wanna know their psycology.
H - Told something...
L - Any other calls?
H - Told
L - Any interview pending?
H - Nopes
L - In all interviews which was the most interesting questions you faced?
H - Told
P - Okay...
L - Hmm... You have anything to ask?
H - Whatever an aspirant needs to know is either in website or bulletin.. so no questions...
L - That means we are redundant? (Laughs)
P - (Joins the laugh)
H - (joins the laugh) Have a nice day

That concludes my last gdpi of the season... Now the wait begins...
All the best puys

[suyash_rix]

25 march 09
10 am
monarch luxor bangalore

10 87.33
12 77.2
b tech 85.7 6th sem tak

cat
qa 99.5
di 99.71
va 96.43
oa 99.83

gd
topic: money is a gud servant bt a bad master
wat (writen ability test): thik thak likh dia
gd gave 3 gud points(isse zyada the he nai)
n as usual ppl talked bout recession n satyam
due to shortage of points ppl talked bout mallya ambani for 10 mins

pi
9th person to b interviewed
p1: arnd50
p2: arnd 30
m: myself

p1: tell me bot urself
m: 10th , 12th , collge .........(cut cut cut)
p1: bout ur colleeg?
m: mgr estbd in 1988 and........(cut cut)
p1: how mcm jharkhand to chennai

m: aieee se its ......(cut)

p1: tell me bou subhas chandra bose
m: freedom fighter estbld 1 army
p2: tell the name
m: aazad hind fauj (netaji kahans e aagye interview me)

p1: wats 26th jan importance
m: ind bcam republic
p1: wats republic?
m: dey got constitution ........(cut)
p1: pahle nai tha:
m : i mean dey got indian constitution
p1: wats republi8c?
m: ppl elect dre leaders..(cut)
p1: u belong to jharklhand n don kno jharkhand was oldest republic of worls n u dont kno sham,e on u
m: m proud tio b dre
p1: u shud b
p1: wass inflation?
m: rise in wholesale price index.(cut)
p2: was dat ?
m: price of >>(cut)
p2: xplain again
m (abi pura kahan kia) tried to xplain bout cpi n wpi but as usual ...(cut)
p2: o i didnt kno dat
p2: look sir he has bcfm certificatyes
p1: o dats interesting finanace
p2: wats bse
m: said quickly
p2: wass sensex?
m: said
p2: i didn understand
m: tried ma best to xplain but ....(cut)
p2: wats derivative
m: told
p2: diff b/w future n forward
m: said
p2: call n put options?
m: trying 2 recollect
p2: ok u may leave now

m: thank u


ptn: shortest pi of ma life ,lasted faw 10 mins. dey didn allow me 2 finish even a single sentence
looks like dey wer predetermined

dnt know at to xpect
but wierdest , awkward pi of ma life
pls comment guysd
do i stand a chance